Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "Watch out!" the fatty suddenly shouted, startling Lin Sanjiu. No sooner had she crouched down than a lead ball swooped past her head, drawing a flashing trajectory in the air.

  "Don't move!" Soulsqn yelled as well. Lin Sanjiu activated her Hypersensory. She clenched her muscles and held herself back from stepping ahead. At this very second, another lead ball came, leaving behind a similar trajectory in front of her.

  In the blink of an eye, there were two trajectories: one overhead and another in front of her. They trapped and froze her in a confined space.

  She had no idea what these trajectories were, but she soon knew the answer in the next second.

  Apparently, she was not the only one who imitated contender no. 17's method. While Lin Sanjiu was crouching on the ground, she captured a faint figure that was materializing on the running track in front of her. There was only one person she knew who ran the footrace this way.

  As the bearded man appeared from thin air and stepped on the running track, the number on his back reached "8". Then, he twisted his body around and touched the glowing line in front of her.

  It happened extremely quickly. It was already too late when Lin Sanjiu wanted to warn him.

  The trajectory suddenly gave off an intense light as if it brimmed with excitement having finally caught a prey. Within a twinkle of an eye, the bearded man was s.u.c.k.e.d into the middle of the line, and the next thing Lin Sanjiu knew, he had already disappeared from the running track along with the glowing arc as if he had never existed before.

  "Wha-What…?!" Stunned by what she just saw, Lin Sanjiu was lost for words.

  "Don't just keep looking? Run!"

  It was only when Soulsqn shouted that she snapped out from her startled state. Lin Sanjiu quickly leaped forward when she spun her head around to see that Time had already closed in. However, the running track was covered with a dense layer of trajectory lines. Some of them were fading away while others had just begun to take shape. These trajectories formed into a net that shrouded even the sky.

  Lin Sanjiu cursed inwardly as she turned around and darted out from the running track with celerity.

  Due to Puppeteer's order, the shot putter had to finish all the lead balls on the ground within a certain period of time. There were 300 or so players, but the number of lead balls on the ground was simply too numerous to count. It was like a sea of lead balls. If Puppeteer did not order the players to clear all the lead balls in a minute, there should be some space for Lin Sanjiu to dodge.

  Now, the mantle of trajectories had forced Lin Sanjiu out of the running track. She did not know how far she had to run. All of the contenders seemed to have miraculously disappeared, and she could not see anybody around.

  "Why?" He turned around, and a swell of rage filled his heart as he yelled at Puppeteer, "What has my sister done to you? Why must you kill her?"

  The man that was dressed in a black jacket did not spare him a glance. He just stared ahead at the shot putter in the distance through his squinted eyes. It was chaos. Some of them were yelling, "I've run out of lead balls!" while others were shouting, "Where are they? I can't see them anymore!" Be that as it may, regardless of how desperate they were and how hard they tried, all the shot putters who were not puppets were disappearing one after another. Right after they threw the last lead ball in their hands, and if the ball did not hit any target, the shot putter would be pulled forward by something unseen and vanish into thin air.

  Puppeteer continued to stare for some time. Bored, he swatted at the invisible dust on the hem of his shirt before turning his head to the grand prize. Then, he asked as if he had just heard his accusation, "What did you say?"

  The courage the grand prize had mustered due to his rage skedaddled back to the depths of his heart. With a pair of red-rimmed eyes, he muttered, "My sis…"

  "Your sister," Puppeteer cut in without waiting for the grand prize to finish his sentence. A satirical grin danced around his lips as he sneered. "There is nothing great about your sister except for one thing — she's always able to turn everything around."

  The grand prize opened his mouth. He wanted to say something, but something inside him held him back. Seeing the grand prize open and close his mouth like a stupid goldfish blowing bubbles, Puppeteer averted his gaze and spoke in his usual soft and gloomy tone, "Turn around and see for yourself if you don't believe me."

  For a second, the grand prize thought Puppeteer would seize the chance and attack him when he turned around. However, another thought pushed the previous idea away. There was no reason for Puppeteer to go to such great lengths to take his life. With his strength, he could have killed him straight away. With that in mind, the grand prize turned his head to face the running track.

  "Hmm?" He looked around the field, and his eyes shone brightly.

  Puppeteer sounded upset, bordering on disappointment. "She escaped again."

  Chapter 612 - The Superiority Of Socialism

  What Lin Sanjiu did not know was that her escape was forged with the lives of people.

  Given their situation, she was confident that all three of them would be finished if she remained indecisive. Setting her jaw tight, Lin Sanjiu ordered Mrs. Manas to take care of the Higher Consciousness before changing the rocket to its highest speed.

  Just as she charged towards the running track at her top speed, she sent her Higher Consciousness forward to intercept the blizzard of lead balls. She wanted to knock them down before they could touch her. This was, indeed, a brilliant idea, and although it was challenging to carry out such a feat, it was not impossible.

  The only thing Lin Sanjiu did not know was that her action had sent a dozen shot putters towards death.

  Runners were fast. You could hardly notice them when they zoomed past your line of sight, let alone try to hit them with a lead ball.

  Also, shot putters were required to clear at least half of the lead balls before the game ended. Hence, the moment the game started, most of the players would fetch as much lead balls as they could and go after the runners.

  If you had more lead balls, you would have a better rate of hitting a runner. However, this also meant that the shot putter would have to shoulder another hundred or thousand pounds of burden with his body.

  Not only did they have to keep up with the wildly swift runners while carrying a hundred or a thousand pounds of weight on them, but they also still had to aim carefully before making any shot. In a way, only posthumans from the Twelve World Centrum were capable of such complicated maneuvers. If the player failed to satisfy the trajectory's d.e.s.i.r.e to devour a person before running out of lead balls, the trajectory would turn its head and gobble up the thrower instead.

  Right now, most of the runners had been knocked out by Puppeteer alone, so there were not many targets left on the running tracks. On top of that, Puppeteer had demanded them to finish the game in one minute, which did nothing but add dread to their situation. Their stock of lead balls soon ran low. To make the situation even worse, their last-ditch effort, which was also their final hope, was effortlessly thwarted by Lin Sanjiu's wall of Higher Consciousness.

  Lin Sanjiu had recovered a large chunk of her Higher Consciousness after she had rested for several days. In fact, she could even feel that her Higher Consciousness had increased. With Mrs. Manas's help, at long last, she stepped onto the running track at the same time that the countdown reached zero.

  The shot put players in the distance did not even have a chance to scream before they were pulled towards the front. The trajectory glowed and disappeared alongside with a player.

  Of course, it all happened behind Lin Sanjiu's back.

  "Why… Why they have stopped throwing the balls?" Lin Sanjiu gasped as she slowly recovered from the aftermath of using the highest gear of the rocket.

  "What happened?"

  "It seems like they have run out of lead balls," the fatty answered with a sharper voice after he turned and looked behind. Soulsqn looked at him, wondering, "Hmm, w
hy did you take off another layer?"

  The fatty gave a bitter smile. As Lin Sanjiu was busy evading the unabating onslaught of lead balls, the fatty was almost hit by one of the shots. He was so startled that he took off another layer and made himself even smaller so that he could hide better on Lin Sanjiu's shoulder. He was now only as large as two human fists.

  Soulsqn, on the other hand, still retained her human form.

  "So, can I say that we survived the path of the shot puts?" Lin Sanjiu asked warily. She dared not to turn around to see her back for she did not have the freedom to make such a maneuver right now. Her face was wet with sweat that stung her eyes, and her vision was clouded.

  "Maybe," Soulsqn coiled herself around Lin Sanjiu's shoulders like a snake, "But this is so unfair! We have to run like hell while all they did was just throwing balls at us!"

  The fatty looked at the people, who were disappearing one after another. He opened his mouth, but the words were stuck in his throat.

  Lin Sanjiu had no idea how many of them had fallen victim to the glittering trajectories. Aside from the five contenders running ahead of her, she could not see anybody else around. She felt cold. Perhaps it was due to the lingering fear, or the exhaustion that had been building up and began to set in, she did not know. Every time a blast of wind hit her, it would steal some of her body heat.

  She continued to run alone. Well, practically, she was not alone because Time was still chasing them tirelessly behind. After some pensiveness, she gritted her teeth and picked up her speed. Just when she was about to catch up with the runners ahead, she asked in a ragged breath, "How long do we still need to run for?"

  Contender no. 17 turned his head to face her. His afro hair swayed along with every gust of wind. "Yo, you survived!"

  Lin Sanjiu did not smile. With a pallid face, she nodded her head incessantly.

  "Didn't you read the description before the game?" A voice came from behind them.

  Lin Sanjiu turned around towards the direction of the sound, but she could not make out anything amidst the gale. She yelled back, "This is my first time joining the game. I don't know what to read."

  "There's still one more section to go," no. 17 replied, "After going through the swimming pool, only then will the game end."

  It would not be too far-fetched to say that Lin Sanjiu almost passed out when she heard the news. She felt so upset. However, no. 17 was a person with high emotional intelligence. As if he knew what she was thinking, he comforted her, "Don't worry! The next section is pretty easy!"

  Lin Sanjiu did not reply. She was too worn out to utter a single syllable right now. She set her jaw tightly as she endured the pain that coursed through her body, and pushed herself to follow the remaining contender behind.

  It turned out that what no. 17 had said was the truth. Compared to shot putting, swimming was much more manageable.

  This was because it was their turn to meddle with the swimmers this time.

  Lin Sanjiu did not know which apocalyptic world this swimming pool belonged to. When she saw a pool of crystal blue water appear instead of a running track, she heaved the longest sigh of relief in her life. She finally could take a rest.

  "Keep running!" As the thought surfaced in her mind, no. 17 barked out his order, "Everyone, jump!"

  'Jump? We need to swim?'

  Nevertheless, she did not hear anything in reality. There was no sound other than a few exclamations.

  Lin Sanjiu hastened her steps and came to a halt at the edge of the pool. She was stunned. As if he was surfing, no. 17 was standing on the back of a swimmer. He crouched down a little to maintain his balance. Then, another person jumped onto that poor swimmer back, crushing him deep into the water. The water swelled up to no.17's c.h.e.s.t before the swimmer struggled back to the surface.

  Aside from no. 17, the other runners had also jumped onto a swimmer's back whenever they a chance. They were struggling to maintain their balance, fighting as the swimmers continued to swim forward. Waves were rose and broke while shouts, curses, and yells of hatred filled the air. Anarchy ruled.

  "Holy shit!" Soulsqn exclaimed, "How sadistic! The one who designed the game must be a genius!"

  "Time!" the fatty shouted sharply, "Time is coming!"

  Even at this crucial moment, he still did not have the guts to yell at Lin Sanjiu to jump into the water.

  The problem now was that Lin Sanjiu had lost her only chance to grab herself a swimmer. She did not know why, but perhaps some of the swimmers had died halfway through, or there were not many participants, to begin with. She only saw a dozen of them, and they had already gone beyond her reach.

  The swimming pool that lay before her stretched endlessly as far as her eyes could see. She peered around and could not find any land that she could use to run atop. The number "10" appeared on the ground below her feet. Apparently, she had to go into the water to continue the game.

  "I can't swim!" Lin Sanjiu said, "If there's no one there to hold me, I'll drown!" She had used up all the rope that she had been acc.u.mulating, and she was not very sure if All Birds Pay Homage to the Phoenix would work, so she did not dare to take the risk. Under the circ.u.mstances of her being chased, if her target fought back against the effect of All Birds Pay Homage to the Phoenix, she was sure that she would get swallowed up by Time before she could hop onto a swimmer's back.

  "Why you are so useless?!" Soulsqn snarled. Then, before she could finish her sentence, the fatty chimed in, "I can help!"

  Lin Sanjiu was stunned. The next thing she saw was the fatty suddenly leaping into the water.

  "What is he doing?" Soulsqn snapped again, "This ungrateful wretch! How dare he…"

  Soulsqn could barely finish her complaint, and the fatty began to make his move. He pulled a red flag out of nowhere and wrapped it around a brass trumpet. Then, he raised the trumpet to his lips and blasted a mighty blow.

  [Heed to The Call of Socialism]

  This Special Item has two parts: a trumpet and a red flag. Each time, the user has to wrap the trumpet with the red flag before blowing it. Anyone in the vicinity who hears the trumpet (a maximum of 13 people) will gather around the red flag in less than 30 seconds and sing the anthem "L'internationale."

  Condition to note: If a Russian wants to use this Special Item, he or she must be born before the year 1991.

  Without waiting for the fatty's call, Lin Sanjiu had leaped into the water.

  As water splashed high into the air, all of the swimmers and runners, who made up a total of 12 people, began to gather around Lin Sanjiu as they sang the lyrics, "The Internationale shall certainly be realized." Concurrently, the fatty mounted onto Lin Sanjiu's shoulder, yelling into her ear, "Hurry! Now is your chance!"

  The trumpet affected everybody who heard its sound, foes and allies alike. After Lin Sanjiu had regained her consciousness, she seized the chance and jumped onto a tall and lean back.

  The swimmer was sent into the water the moment Lin Sanjiu mounted his back. He took in a few large gulps of water, and when he resurfaced, his face scrunched up as he snapped exasperatedly, "How dare you get me back here!? Why do I have to fetch three people?"

  "Quit yapping and start swimming!" Soulsqn hissed, "Although we have more people here, I'm sure we can make you swim faster! Chop-chop and get going! Time is here!"

  Chapter 613 - I'm Counting On You

  All brawls ceased to exist. Everybody was frozen stiff the moment Time fell into the pool.

  When Time descended into the pool with a mighty splash, all the swimmers soon realized what it was as the light ripple gleamed over the water. They turned their heads and swam out like crazies.

  A few seconds ago, everybody was fighting. The runners were trying to get onto the backs of the swimmers, while the latter struggled with all their worth to prevent them from mounting them. The water rolled madly like a tsunami, and profanities that hurt the ears were hurled into the air.

  However, the appearance of Time had put a stop
to all of these. They realized that if they did not compromise and work together, everybody would be dead. Soon, everyone snapped out of the effect of the fatty's Special Item before he could even dispel it. All the swimmers brought out their own secret weapons and propelled themselves forward with the runners on their backs.

  Of course, not only did Lin Sanjiu have to endure the waves, which kept hitting her face, but she also had to tolerate the cursing that the other contenders showered at her.

  Time was within a stone's throw away from a contender when it entered the pool. At that moment, everybody was shocked when they returned to their senses. When they turned around, they saw that Lin Sanjiu, the culprit who put them in danger, had already gone far ahead.

  The silver lining was that those who chose to participate in the swimming contest were excellent swimmers. Not only could they swim as fast as trouts, but they also had tons of Special Items at their disposal that could aid them in swimming. In the end, everybody was able to escape safely, though they were not entirely out of danger yet since Time was still keeping a very close distance from them. If it were not for the friction that held the light ripples back, there should have been casualties.

  Right now, whenever the swimmers resurfaced, they would bash Lin Sanjiu and the fatty with every obscenity they knew.

  Lin Sanjiu and the fatty both knew it was their fault for putting everybody in danger. Plagued with guilt, Lin Sanjiu buried her face in the young man's back while the fatty took cover on Lin Sanjiu's shoulder, not wanting to meet the other contenders' eyes. Soulsqn was the only one amongst the trio who knew no shame. She fought back every one of them, yelling imperiously as if she had done nothing wrong, "How dare you talk to me like that?! You, over there! Yes, I'm talking about you! Come over here. I'm going to wear you as my human pouch!"